tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2934339526553990562015-03-03T12:10:00.968-06:00Disaffected and it Feels So GoodIt may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons &amp; Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman&#39;s memory of war from the comfort of mom&#39;s basement.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.comBlogger973125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-58783973198144600052015-03-03T01:16:00.001-06:002015-03-03T08:39:11.974-06:00Conservatives love Bill O'Reilly because he lies to them.As the litany of Bullshit O'Lielly's lies grows it's time to face the truth, as it were, about why Conservatives are defending Bill-O so vehemently. Conservatives don't love Bill despite his falsehoods, exagerations and deceit; they love him <i>because</i> of them.<br /><br />Bill O'Reilly has been a known and proven liar for over a decade, ever since Senator Al Franken embassed O'Really on CSPAN by proving Bill-O claimed to have won Two Peabody Awards for his work on<i>&nbsp;Inside Edition</i>&nbsp;and<i>&nbsp;</i>then by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/flashback-keith-olbermann-has-been-calling-out-bill-oreillys-lies-for-a-very-long-time/" target="_blank">Keith Olbermann, who spent most </a>of the W(orst Potus Ever) Administration dissecting the loofah laden lies profered by "Bill Orally".<br /><i><br /></i>However, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/02/26/killing-truth/202677" target="_blank">Media Matters</a> and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/bill-oreilly-falklands-video-cbs" target="_blank">Mother Jones</a> have uncovered that O'Lielly has been completely full of bullshit for decades. I could list the known lies, a list which grows everday, but the basic O'Reilly&nbsp;<i>Modus Operandi </i>is&nbsp;the same or similar in each story, namely that Bill O'Reilly was in the middle of a harrowing, dangerous area covering life-threatening or ground breaking events.<br /><br />And they are <b>ALL TOTAL BULLSHIT.</b><br /><b><br /></b>But, as the mountain of O'Reilly Bullshit grows, it's clear conservatives not only don't care but grow more and more vested not only in defending this despicable liar but, in attacking those exposing his decades long career of lying.<br /><br />Because that's what Conservatives want and need. The have a deep, deep hole in their being which can only ever be filled with the sweet sounds of Faux News and Right-Wing Propaganda i.e. Lies.<br /><br />And if Papa Bear O'Reilly is forced to recant, retract or be removed from the air then the entire edice of their Conservative Mind will crumble and expose them to the fact that Conservatives have destroyed the Media and hastened the destruction of the Nation.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-84290118623593228122015-02-28T12:16:00.001-06:002015-03-01T06:59:19.286-06:00CPAC 2015 Conservatives and Republicans are destroying the Nation because they Hate America<blockquote class="tr_bq">"Oh, the naive Obama State Department. They say we can't kill our way out of war. Really? Tell that to the Nazis. Oh wait, you can't. They're dead. We killed 'em" -Sarah <i>I read all of 'em</i> Palin.</blockquote><i>Gather round while I sing you of Wernher Von Braun</i><br /><i>A man whose allegience</i><br /><i>Is ruled by expedience</i><br /><i>Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown</i><br /><i>'Ha Nazi-Schmazi,' says Wernher Von Braun - </i>Tom Lehrer<br /><br />It's always good to start of the Conservative Clown Car cavalcade of cowardly chickenhawks with a pig-ignorant Sarah Palin quote and link (warning The Blaze) to the <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/26/the-nazi-reference-sarah-palin-made-at-cpac-that-has-the-internet-buzzing/" target="_blank">right-wing buffoons who know nothing of history</a>.<br /><br />As we watch the Republican Congressional Circus fail to fund The Department of Homeland Security and Clowns at CPAC 2015 the big takeaways are the mounting evidence that Conservatives and Republicans are destroying the Nation they profese to love so dearly, in service to their Plutocratic Masters.<br /><br />Because Conservatives don't love the real America they love <i>Imaginary America</i>. Their <i>Imaginary America</i>&nbsp;is even more of a mockery than Ronnie Raygun's Shining City on a Hill because it's a Plutocratic Neo-Feudalist Wage Slavery State in which trickle down economics works, conservative icons like Bullshit O'Lielly, Racist Limpballs and Sean Insannity are Icons of Veracity and dogmatic truth-tellers, where the Iraq War was a massive success, where skin color, gender, and sexual orientation are not used against people ever, where poverty is totally the fault of the child born into it, where everyone could be rich if you were just willing to work harder, and <a href="http://www.conservativereason.org/sheriff-mack-the-aca-and-decency" target="_blank">everyone can get healthcare coverage sans the Government</a>.<br /><br />It's a Total Fantasy. But, conservatives also demand everyone publically swear fealty to <i>Imaginary America</i>. And woe be unto anyone who does not for the 1% will <a href="http://tktk.gawker.com/mark-halperin-is-a-bad-theater-critic-1688546945/+tcberman#_ga=1.135528948.496704300.1416931937" target="_blank">sic their Conservative Media</a> and Republican Attack dogs to destroy that person.<br /><br />For the Plutocracy knows that with their Media and Government they can destroy any challenges to their hegemony, which is why they've spent the last 50 years <a href="http://www.balloon-juice.com/2015/02/28/saturday-morning-cartoons-open-thread-cpac-edition/" target="_blank">buying them both up</a>.<br /><br />At CPAC, Wisconsin (a subsidiary of Koch Industries) Governor Scott Walker proclaimed Wisconsin Liberals and Union Employees are exactly the same as ISIS terrorists. Because to the Koch Brothers, Walker's owners, <i>anything</i> which threatens their total domination and creation of a Neo-Feudalist America is a threat.<br /><br />The Rich destroyed Occupy Wall Street, they destroyed the Anti-Iraq War Protests, they've stolen Voting Rights away from thousands, they've bleed Unions, they've methodically enacted Right-to-Work for Less laws but, they won't be satisifed until every American is shackled into Corporate Bondage and ground down into penury and crushing poverty.<br /><br />For the Plutocracy sees no Nation, they respect no Flag, or National Borders; what they see in the United States is a labor force which is too expensive.<br /><br />And Conservatives are their New Pinkertons, the new strike breakers ready to beat liberals, shoot minorities, murder homosexuals, put unchaste women in their place and destroy America and replace it with&nbsp;<i>Imaginary America.</i>Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-17330842406005073312015-02-27T07:45:00.000-06:002015-02-27T07:45:12.469-06:00Sleeping Truck Drivers and Fatal Accidents are another gift from CapitalismA Semi-Truck accident from 2014 is back in the news and it highlights the problem of sleeping truck drivers but not the underlying cause.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Last January 27th in the Chicagoland area, <a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20150225/news/150229135/" target="_blank">a truck driver Renato Velasquez fell asleep at the wheel </a>and crashed into a State Police Crusier and an IDOT assistance truck which had stopped on I-88 near Route 59 to aid a stranded motorist. The IDOT worker Vincent Petrella was killed and the State Trooper Douglas Balder was severely injured.<br /><br />Velasquez' trial has begun and he is being charged with operating a commercial motor vehicle while fatigued or impaired and making a false report of his record and duty status.</div><div><br />Prosecutors stated Velasquez frequently, falsified his in-cab log books to indicate he was abiding by federal rules that require truck drivers to sleep for 10 consecutive hours after driving for 11 hours.<br /><br />In Illinois, the only change to Highway Traffic Laws passed recently was <a href="http://disaffectedanditfeelssogood.blogspot.com/2013/12/jim-oberweis-uses-his-government.html" target="_blank">State Senator Jim Oberweis speed limit increase</a>, which he pushed through in order that his delivery truck drivers could go 70+mph to make him more money on his Dairy Empire. Safety of truck drivers and everyone else in Illinois be damned.</div><div><br /></div><div>Truck Drivers are rountinely given timetables which require them to either: 1) Speed or 2) Eschew Sleep in order to get their loads on schedule.</div><div><br /></div><div>A quick perusal will find dozens of news stories of sleeping truck drivers and several spectacular crashes caught on video. The underlying cause for all of them is the Capitalist System which has placed Profit over every other concern.<br /><br />Do not fret though because the system is safe. After these accidents happen Capitalism will never be charged, will never be questioned, the <a href="http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2015/02/03/semi-strikes-home-stockbridge/22790979/" target="_blank">individual truck driver will be punished</a> for Capitalism's systemic flaws and disregard for the safety and well-being of those affected.</div>Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-91921276224588171532015-02-20T13:51:00.003-06:002015-02-24T10:05:02.451-06:00The Shocking Profligate Nature of Republican Congressman Aaron Schock (updated)<div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Dude? Do you even legislate, Brah?</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="" src="http://schock.house.gov/UploadedPhotos/LowResolution/d81279ec-d177-4568-9397-597a080ce6c2.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></div></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Aaron here's a mini-tractor and a million dollar check&nbsp;</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">for your house&nbsp;in thanks for your impartial House Votes!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>Congressman Aaron Shock (R-Illinois 18th District), another of the young Republican Males seeking to exert their Dudebro ideas on the Nation is in trouble for yet another Ethics Violation and misuse of Taxpayer dollars.<br /><br />First and Foremost, IOKIYAR. Now that's out of the way, <a href="http://wonkette.com/576881/how-is-congressdude-aaron-schock-getting-himself-in-ethics-trouble-today#xHzPTOCiKQkJbRVB.99" target="_blank">Wonkette is rereporting,</a><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., has repeatedly spent taxpayer and campaign funds to rent aircraft that are not certified charter services, despite House rules and federal law that generally prohibit the use of private aircraft for official and campaign use.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">House rules have some exemptions, such as an Ethics Committee waiver that allows a lawmaker to use a private plane. Neither Schock nor his representatives, however, replied to repeated e-mails and calls about whether he obtained permission for the flights.</blockquote></div>This comes after revelations that Schock spent over a $100,000 U.S. Taxpayer dollars getting his D.C. Congressional Offices completely renevated in a DownTown Abbey motif and <a href="http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/7/71/356086/aaron-schock-hit-another-ethics-complaint-time-peoria-area-home">it was uncovered </a>that Schock sold his home for a whopping $925,000 to former Caterpillar executive Ali Bahaj, also a Schock donor, during the Housing Crash and Republican Recession.<br /><br /><a href="http://schock.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=5002">Schock's Congressional Homepage</a>, proudly proclaims how he worked to weaken EPA regulations as payback for the money given to him Caterpillar. It also unironically states, <i>it was discovered that a federal agency spent over $800,000 for a 2010 conference held in Las Vegas. This type of lavish spending is unacceptable and as a result, I supported legislation in both the 112th and 113th Congress that seeks to bring transparency to the process...</i><br /><br />Lavish Spending is Unacceptable... for thee NOT for me, the personal Dudebro lifting mantra of the unethical and lawless Aaron Schock. The Party of Personal Responsibility Strikes Again.<br /><br /><u>Update:</u><br />Since I wrote this post there have been more revelations of the <a href="http://billmoyers.com/2015/02/23/awesome-life-american-congressman/" target="_blank">Party Dude lifestyle Congressman Aaron Schock</a> has been leading. Including using Taxpayer Money for deep-tissue massages, Katy Perry Concerts, Super Bowl Tickets and tickets to the Country Music Awards. Must be Fabulous to be a young white Republican because you get to jet to Aspen for the weekend all the while being free to slash food aid to sick and poor while never having to worry about criminal prosecution because IOKIYAR.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-13114784513779737702015-02-18T15:46:00.000-06:002015-02-18T16:49:03.623-06:00Illinois has a Measles Epidemic but Governor Rauner only cares about giving Big Government Salaries to his CroniesAnother Measles case has been confirmed at the Palatine Kindercare. This is the 14th case in Illinois since the outbreak began less than a month ago.<br /><br />But, don't worry Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner is making sure Illinois Tax Payer Dollars are going to the Right People these days!<br /><br />In between <a href="http://www.theherald-news.com/2015/02/14/miller-whats-rauners-end-game-in-battle-with-illinois-unions/asltjvh/" target="_blank">being "liberated" to impoverish Illinois Workers</a>, Bruce Rauner has been steadily rewarding his Cronies and their families with <a href="http://www.theherald-news.com/2015/02/14/miller-whats-rauners-end-game-in-battle-with-illinois-unions/asltjvh/" target="_blank">lucrative, high paying Government Jobs</a>;<br /><ul><li>Rauner gave 25 year old Emily Clamp a&nbsp;<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">$</span>70,000 job at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency just days after declaring a State Employee Spending Freeze. Clamp <i>just happens </i>to be the sister of his Senior Campaign Political Advisor Sarah Clamp who helped with Rauner's campaign "Tactics" of attacking Governor Pat Quinn for Patronage hires.</li><li>Now, Rauner has hired through a no-bid contract process a <a href="http://capitolfax.com/2015/02/18/arduin-takes-the-stage/" target="_blank"><i>Piss-Down-Your-Back and Tell-You-It's Raining</i> Reaganomics Superstar Donna Arduin</a> to help him with the Budget Process of screwing over the Working Class. Arduin will take in a cool $120,000 USC for her "work" of shifting the burden of the Illinois Budget onto the backs of the Working Class while helping the Land of Lincoln become a 1%er's Paradise.</li><li>Multiple members of Rauner's Staff have been given salaries far higher than those under Governor Quinn's Office. A longtime friend and business associate of Rauner's was installed with a salary twice that off his predecessor.</li><li>And to&nbsp;top it off, Rauner hired a $100,000-a-year Chief of Staff Sara Wojcicki Jimenez for his Wife Diana Rauner in her Official First Lady Duties of Nothing.</li></ul>But, Illinois Conservatives you can rest comfortable that <i>those people</i>&nbsp;are going to have the minisule aid slashed by Pharaoh Rauner.&nbsp;So, just remember to thank your Pharaoh when your kid contracts Measles because you had to put your child into cheap daycare to work an extra job to make up for the money Rauner took from your paycheck to pay for his Wife's Chief of Staff.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-91467364339559988302015-02-17T22:11:00.000-06:002015-02-18T15:58:51.342-06:00Governor Bruce Rauner's continuing Quest to Impoverish Illinois, Crush Unions, Raise Taxes on the Poor, and Lower Taxes on the Rich<blockquote class="tr_bq">Well I've got a little somethin'<br />Guaranteed to ease your mind<br />It's called Snake Oil y'all<br />It's been around for a long, long time - Snake Oil, <u>Copperhead Road&nbsp;</u>Steve Earle (1988)</blockquote>Illinois <strike>Governor</strike> Pharaoh Bruce Rauner was handed an Executive set-back last Friday the 13th when his hand-picked Comptroller Leslie Munger,&nbsp;based on advice from Attorney General Lisa Madigan's Office, ruled Pharaoh Rauner's Imperial Order on Union Dues was not legal.<br /><div><br /></div><div>So, Pharaoh Rauner, in his goal to Impoverish Illinois, simply ignored the ruling of Comptroller Munger and ordered State Agencies to withhold "Fair Share" fees from Unions in escrow accounts. The escrow accounts, in and of themselves are also illegal under Illinois Law but, who cares we've got an Plutocrat here <a href="http://www.theherald-news.com/2015/01/24/miller-illinois-voters-getting-the-change-they-voted-for/awjkz18/" target="_blank">who wants to screw workers and Unions over</a>!</div><div><br /></div><div>Rauner is constrained by the 1947 Taft-Hartley act which allowed for the creation of Right-to-Work For Less Laws but, specifically enumerated only in States or Territories. Bruce Rauner will never get Right-to-Work For Less passed in the Illinois Legislature so he's trying to set up a Supreme Court fight going by allowing local municipalities break their local Unions themselves.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rauner is a despicable thief and Vandal Capitalist, therefore he will never be dissuaded from his Quest to crush the power of workers and impoverish regular Illinois citizens.</div><div><br /></div><div>What's clear is Bruce Rauner wants to impose Austerity on Illinois and make Illinois "favorable" for Business. The details of Rauner's New Budget are still shrouded in secrecy but will be revealed in his Budget Speech on 02/18/15. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/chi-madigan-says-rauner-to-deliver-tough-medicine-in-budget-speech-20150217-story.html">He gave a closed-door preview</a> to House Speaker Mike Madigan today.</div><div><br /></div><div>Madigan didn't pull any punches on the so-called "tough medicine" Rauner is peddling,</div><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I said 10 days ago, I don’t think you can cut your way out of the problem. I think you need some additional revenue, and that’ll be my position tomorrow."</blockquote><div>Rauner isn't peddling "tough medicine" but the typical Republican Brew; Snake Oil.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>It's indisputable Rauner's New Illinois Budget will include; Higher Taxes on the Poor, Lower Taxes on the Rich, Taxes on Pensions, new taxes on services, food and medications and dramatic reductions to Social Services for those most in need.</div><div><br /></div><div>So... Get Ready for Republican Governance, Illinois. Get Ready for Economic Zones in which Corporations pay less than 1/100th of 1% in Taxes while your taxes go up.&nbsp;&nbsp;Get Ready for Austerity.&nbsp;Get Ready for Pharaoh Rauner's Right-Wing Snake Oil.</div>Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-56369824625759520412015-02-15T13:45:00.000-06:002015-02-15T16:13:43.285-06:00Vicious Conservatives have broken the Social Contract in order to shred the Social Safety NetThe Guard Dogs of the Plutocracy, the Republican Party in the 114th Congress are tasked with destroying the Holy Grail of the Social Safety Net, Social Security. Thus, they immediately took up the task of swindling the 99% out of their earned benefits by setting disabled Americans against elderly Americans.<br /><br />By the end of 2016, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, which benefit 11 million disabled Americans, will be facing a budget hole, so of course, the Republicans are using this opportunity and their Congressional control to change the way funds are transferred between Social Security to SSDI. The Republican changes demand any transfers to Disability funds must be accompanied by benefit cuts or tax increases.<br /><br />Republicans have no problem using Legerdermain and chicanery to accomplish the goals of their Rich Masters. Vicious Conservatives are out to swindle Social Security in order to remove any hope of help for poor retired Americans or those unable to work due to injury and illness.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"Our preference has always been that the depletion of the DI trust fund become the impetus for comprehensive Social Security reform," Ed Lorenzen, senior advisor to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.</blockquote>Vicious Conservatives, their Libertarian "intellectuals" and Republican Masters seek nothing less than the return of the Feudal System in which Corporate Monsters like Duke Energy, AmWay and Koch Industries are in charge of huge swaths of the Nation-State beholden to no government, constrained by no regulations and free to crush the working class under the iron heel of wage slavery and corporate bondage.<br /><br />Right-Wingers readily go along with this because they no longer see a compact with their fellow Americans. They've been conditioned to view 47% of their countrymen as moochers. They've been lead to believe <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/02/15/3623356/lawmaker-opposes-education-funding-go-blacks-get-welfare-crazy-checks/" target="_blank">Republicans will stop "those people" from stealing Social Security</a>. They'd rather <i>Let'em Die.</i><br /><br />But, <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-social-security-di-next-move" target="_blank">Republicans can not tell their duped right-wing drones</a> that they are actually out to destroy Social Security <i>entirely</i>, including for them, so they lie about saving it and return to the tried and true method of warning them of "fraud".<br /><br />Congressman P90X Ryan who benefited from Social Security as a teenager, when his father died, wants to pull the Ladder Up and make sure it isn't there for poor Americans but, doesn't want to be known as the Granny-Starving Congressman, so the Ways and Means Chairman sent his sub-chairman Republican Representative Sam Johnson <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/01/14/gop-justifies-weakening-social-security-disabil/202143" target="_blank">to proclaim SSDI is "fraud-plagued"</a>,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"This program cannot afford more fraud. It is only a matter of time when Congress may be asked to bailout this program with the retirement side having to come to the rescue. If that is the case then all taxpayers and beneficiaries will shoulder the crime wave."</blockquote>The crime wave? Ridiculous. What Republicans think is a crime is that Poor and Working Class people have protections from Vandal Capitalists. So, they are fervently working to remove that protection.<br /><br />Without any Government protection, you and your fellow working class members will have No Shield from rapacious capitalists who see no country and no countrymen. To them there are only assets and liabilities.<br /><br />So what are you going to do when Koch Industries dumps 4000 tons of Petcoke on your doorstep? Whom will you turn to for assistance when a pipeline bursts and floods your drinking water with sweet, sweet crude oil? How will you eat when Social Security is declared insolvent after the next Wall Street implosion? What hopes for redress will you get when Obamacare is repealed and you're denied medical care for your pre-existing condition?<br /><br />You will have none; just as the Republican Lap Dogs of the 1% intend. Getting rid of Social Security and having their duped vicious Conservative drones aid them will help the Republican Party shackle Americans with the chains of Wage Slavery.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-80031973162110596212015-02-12T11:00:00.002-06:002015-02-13T09:19:03.075-06:00Governor Bruce Rauner says it's time to Break Illinois<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-rauner-state-of-the-state-preview-met-0204-20150203-story.html#page=1" target="_blank">In his State of the State Address</a>, Bruce Rauner laid out his vision for Illinois Workers; <b>Wage Slavery</b> and <b>Corporate Bondage</b>.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"It is make or break time for the Land of Lincoln," Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.</blockquote>As always Rauner was short on specifics, he nonetheless let the Public Employee and Private Sector workers in Illinois know that <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17606/bruce_rauner_anti_union" target="_blank">he'll not stand for them making so much money</a>.<br /><br />Rauner declared his intent to destroy Unions (both Public and Private) and Public Sector Bargaining and he'll do so by whatever means available. Bruce Rauner issued an Executive Order declaring "Fair Share" employees Union dues should be held in a Trust until he can get his "Employee Empowerment Zones" established.<br /><br />Rauner's Employee Empowerment Zones are the newest attempt to undercut Unions by allowing local muncipalities to create Right-to-Work Zones without the State of Illinois passing the necessary legislation.<br /><br />Right-to-Work laws are best known as Right-to-Work <i>for Less</i>. Once passed these laws transfer all bargaining power to Business, which immediately enact cuts to pay and benefits.<br /><br />Rauner claims these Orwellian-titled Empowerment Zones are needed because of the broken economic situation in Illinois. Of course, it was Bruce Rauner and his Hedge Fund Wealth Manager buddies who broke Illinois Public employees pensions.<br /><br />By Rauner's own estimate 2/3rds of the funds for his Hedge Fund Firm <b>GTCR</b> were supplied by Public Pensions. In Illinois, GTCR "mismanaged" money for the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) and the Illinois State Board of Investment, the state's largest and third-largest, respectively. Additionally, GTCR had access to state and municipal pension plans from the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System to&nbsp;the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board.<br /><div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">For this "work" GTCR, takes 20% or more plus consultation and management fees. Rauner got his compensation no matter what the funds he "managed" did.<br /><br />So, it's not surprising that Illinois and other Public Pensions began to go into insolvency once Rauner and other&nbsp;<a href="http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=166746">Vandal Capitalists got their hands on the funds</a>. In fiscal year 2009, TRS lost $4.4 Billion (22% of its' value) in 2008 TRS lost 5% of it's value because of the Management of their Portfolios by Rauner-types.<br /><br />Rauner made his fortune through "coin-clipping" he and his Vandal Capitalists clipped points off of Worker's Pensions to make their fortunes. Additionally, in keeping with his Transfer of Wealth Upwards, Rauner wants to lower taxes on the Rich and Corporations and expand sales taxes because those taxes hit the Working Class the hardest.</div><br />Rauner and his aides know exactly what Employee Empowerment Zones, his Reverse Robin Hood Tax Rates and Theft of Pensions will do to Illinois during interviews with the Chicago Tribune; <b>how to improve the state's business climate as companies move out of state in search of a cheaper workforce.</b><br /><br />So yes, Rauner wants to bring jobs here, the kind of jobs where you work 40 hours a week for wages which barely get you over the poverty line, with no prospects of being able to retire and no pension, working until the day you die.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-18473261738800697882015-02-11T20:20:00.000-06:002015-02-11T23:13:49.389-06:00Muslim Terrorism Strikes Chapel Hill, North Carolina<blockquote class="tr_bq">"[W]hen you take Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, whatever, their combined killings in the name of religion -- well, that would be zero." -&nbsp;Eric Bolling, Faux News</blockquote>But, you won't hear about this latest incident of "muslim terrorism" on Faux News because the Muslims are the victims. The murderer is a Southern White Male Gun Nut. <a href="http://newsfeed.gawker.com/three-muslim-college-students-slain-in-shooting-near-un-1685160166/+aleksanderchan" target="_blank">While the three murdered muslims were college age students</a>.<br /><br />Prior to the murders the killer, Craig S. Hicks, allegedly posted photos of his .38 in a holster and wrote, "When it comes to insults, your religion started this, not me. If your religion kept its big mouth shut, so would I" on his facebook account.<br /><br />So immediately, the white privilege defense mechanisms kick into high gear to absolve a white killer and Whiteness in General of the crime.<br /><br />Whenever a murderer is white we are treated to an overall media silence coupled with built-in rationalizations, e.g. "The killer was a lone wolf", "The killer is mentally unstable". As always&nbsp;the Conservative Media Apparatus engages in this blatant hypocrisy of&nbsp;downplaying White Mass Murderers&nbsp;because it benefits their narrative and helps them to continue grifting.<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Already we've seen conservatives take to their computers to declare, <i>This wasn't terrorism but an argument over a parking spaces</i>, while a reversal of the victims and perpetrators would have had Sean Hannity and the entire Right-Wing Internet Fart Bubble screaming for President Obama to declare this Islamic Extremism while they cross-contaminated their blogs which incestuous amplification of the noisome emissions that President Obama secretly aided the killers.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So, as with Adam Lanza or James Holmes or when a&nbsp;Jimmy Lee Dykes murders a bus driver and kidnaps a 6 year old, holding the boy hostage for 8 days in his underground bunker, this latest mass killings is by definition not an Act of Terror because the shooter is a white male.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">And there's a built in defense because Hicks is reportedly an atheist. So once more the right-wing criminals who have hammered the drums that <b>Muslim=Terrorist</b> can wash their hands and proclaim they had nothing to do with a southern white gun nut domestic terrorist murdering 3 young muslim students.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So, don't expect a rally attended by World Leaders. Don't expect Bill O'Reilly to question his morality. Don't expect NC Troopers to turn their backs on White Male Gun Owners and declare them responsible <i>en masse </i>for these deaths.&nbsp;Mass Murderers, when the perpetrator is a White Male, are coddled in this Nation. And just like Right-Wing Violence it is thus encouraged.<br /><br /><u>Update:</u><br />Crisis Averted!<br /><br />Hicks isn't a Bundyist Right-Wing Domestic Terrorist like Jerad Miller but is instead a "Looney Liberal" with the small incongruity of being a Gun Humping Fanatic.&nbsp;<a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/fivepoints/craig-stephen-hicks-guns-anti-theism" target="_blank">Talking Points Memo is reporting</a>&nbsp;Hicks is vehemently anti-theist, being especially critical of American Christian Dominonists, and was a fan of Dogs Against Romney facebook page.<br /><br />So, <i>any</i>&nbsp;twinge of doubt which might have momentarily plagued Conservatives can now be safely jettisoned and the NRA can proclaim what was needed here were more guns especially in the hands of young muslim males. Of course, it will be oddly shameful for Conservatives to villify Hicks for doing on a small scale exactly what Chris Kyle did on a large scale.</div>Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-22357630367086553512015-02-09T11:26:00.001-06:002015-02-09T22:57:04.922-06:00The 2015 National Prayer Breakfast highlights Conservative Values of Murder, Slavery and GenocideIntolerance and Oppression are the core building blocks of the modern Conservative. Unless one swears allegiance to genocide and slavery one can not be an American Right-Winger today. To be a Conservative in America today means to be devoid of historical knowledge, secure in righteous ignorance and an active proponent of afflicting the afflicted and harming the innocent.<br /><br />The two recent right-wing poutrages over&nbsp;<i>American Sniper</i>&nbsp;and the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-speech-at-prayer-breakfast-called-offensive-to-christians/2015/02/05/6a15a240-ad50-11e4-ad71-7b9eba0f87d6_story.html" target="_blank">President Obama's comments at the 2015 National Prayer Breakfast</a>&nbsp;serve to show the despicable nature of the American Conservatives.<br /><br />First of all, the United States of America should not have a National Prayer <i>Anything</i>&nbsp;as the United States "is not, in any sense founded on the Christian religion" and the US Constitution specifically forbids the establishment of religion by the Federal Government. Of course, the National Prayer Breakfast was created in the 1950s (akin to the under god addition to the Pledge of Allegiance) in response to the godless Soviet Union to prove<i> Gott Mit Uns</i>.<br /><br />Secondly, responding to right-wing outrage is a ridiculous task. Whether they are foaming at the mouth over Dijon Mustard, Umbrellas, Dan Daly's USMC Cover or Lattes no group in the history of the world is as wimpy, thin-skinned, petulant, actively ignorant or violently stupid as Conservatives. <br /><br />Now,&nbsp;<i>American Sniper</i>&nbsp;has become a purity litmus test for Conservatives. For years conservatives have gnashed their teeth; as they've been champing at the bit to declare the Iraq War a Noble Crusade and Glorious Victory and beatify anyone who reveled in murdering Muslims. Since 2003 and dozens of time afterwards, Conservatives declared Iraq "Won" culminating in the <a href="http://disaffectedanditfeelssogood.blogspot.com/2008/12/victory-in-iraq-again.html" target="_blank">Right-Wing Blog-o-sphere declaring Victory in Iraq Day (VI Day) on 11/22/2008</a>.<br /><br />The Iraq War was a miserable failure, a war crime, resulting in the murder of thousands of innocent Iraqis, a complete waste of American lives and money, which utterly destabilized&nbsp;the region, created ISIS and has in no way made US or anyone else in the world safer.<br /><br />But, when Obama dared to point out, at the 2015 National Prayer Breakfast, the history of Christianity being used by the powerful to justify heinous crimes well that's just too much.<br /><br />Conservatives believe Slavery is justified because it exposed the slaves and their descendants to the light of Christianity and the "freedom" of America. Conservatives believe the genocide of Native Americans was justified because genocide is a staunch conservative value. Just as they believe the slaughter of more than a hundred thousand Iraqis is justified because Iraq is "free" now thanks to George W. Bush and Chris Kyle.<br /><br />So when, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore has a temper tantrum and pouts, <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"This goes further to the point that Mr. Obama does not believe in America or the values we all share."&nbsp;</blockquote>He's absolutely correct. President Obama does not share the American Values of Conservatives because those values are; Oppression, Intolerance, Fawning Adulation of the Rich, Slavery, Murder, and Genocide.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-80169074350740183392015-02-08T11:50:00.000-06:002015-02-08T11:54:54.493-06:00Finanical Criminals only get punished when they Steal from the Rich<blockquote class="tr_bq">"There is only one crime among Vampires; Kill your Own Kind." - Stephen Rea, <u>Interview with the Vampire (1994)</u></blockquote>Eric Bloom, the former head of the Northbrook, Illinois based Hedge Fund Sentinel Management Group, was sentenced last week for convictions on18 counts of wire fraud and 1 count of investment adviser fraud.<br /><br />During the 2007 Republican Recession, Bloom's thievery cause Sentinel to implode and go bankrupt in a Billion Dollar vanishing of investors assets. But, as far back as 2003 Bloom began secretly using his clients funds to make high-risk investments and as collateral for multi-million dollars loans for his, his fathers' and his associates benefit.<br /><br />Bloom was sentenced to 14 years for defrauding his clients of at least <b>$665 Million</b>. Bloom has been free on bond since the trial began last year has until April 30th to turn himself in. Bloom begged for leniency and declared, "I am not a thief". He reportedly also wrote a letter expressing his fear about his prison sentence and its' effect on his wife and daughter.<br /><br />Awwww...<br /><br />Charles Mosley, the head trader for Sentinel and a long-time friend of Bloom, plead guilty in October 2013 to Investor Fraud but, wasn't sentenced till last month. Mosely got 8 years.<br /><br />It sure pays to be a rich white criminal.<br /><br />For some reason neither Bloom nor Mosley received a death sentence, of course they didn't steal a $50 pack of Swisher Sweets. But, as with Bernie Madoff we see criminals like Eric Bloom only get jail time when they swindle <i>Rich People.</i><br /><br />Thieves like Bruce Rauner and Mitt Romney, who steal from poor people and "make" their fortunes robbing Working Class Pensions, get elected Governor.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-20806845869077732582015-01-26T12:45:00.000-06:002015-01-27T06:58:12.518-06:00The NYPD, Broken Windows, Collars for Dollars and Control of the PoorContinuing the topic of Police Departments the discussion now focuses on what is the role of Police Departments have in society.<br /><br />Contrary to popular belief and the motto's stenciled on squad cars, Police Departments were not created to 'Serve &amp; Protect' and keep the peace but, to exert control over the poor and working class. The creation of the Modern Police Force in the United States coincided with increases in immigration, the Industrial Revolution, and the end of Slavery. As such Police Departments were tasked by the Ruling elite to keep the American Working Class, immigrants and minorities in check.<br /><br />The 1% actually sees only two legitimate "Constitutional" Roles for the US Government, a military for expanding and opening up Foreign Shores for exploitation and the quelling of Domestic Dissent and control of the Poor by the Police<br /><br />As the work slow down by the New York Brats in Blue has shown not much changed on the home front.<br /><br />Apparently, the NYPD thinks <a href="http://nypost.com/2015/01/11/no-time-off-for-nypd-until-cops-get-back-to-work/" target="_blank">their slow down is helping them win in their Political Struggle</a> against Mayor Bill de Blasio. As a Police Officer I'm disappointed by their acknowledgement their arrests, notices to appear and citations were not to 'Serve &amp; Protect' but, for the purpose of <i>revenue collection</i>&nbsp;and <i>social control.</i><br /><br />It's more than a tacit admission, it's a bold statement the <b>Broken Windows Policing</b> doesn't reduce serious crime but, transforms Police Officers into revenue streams.<br /><br />The <b>Broken Windows theory</b>, a hypothesis first appearing in 1982 that clamping down small crimes will help keep down more serious crime, while compelling is not supported by the evidence of the last 30 years.<br /><br />Broken Windows, though it still has its' adherents (namely Rudy Giuliani), has been undercut by an actual analysis of the data. Jens Ludwig and Bernard Harcourt in their <a href="http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2473&amp;context=journal_articles" target="_blank">2006 thesis </a><i><a href="http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2473&amp;context=journal_articles" target="_blank">Broken Windows: New Evidence for New York City and a Five City Social Experiment</a>&nbsp;</i>posited the "Broken Yankees Hypothesis" wherein the number of NYC homicides decreases with the increase in Yankees Championships.<br /><br />Additionally, <a href="http://www.nber.org/digest/may08/w13097.html" target="_blank">the elimination if Lead</a> in gasoline has been credibly linked to an overall decrease in crime.<br /><br />But, that's the point, whether or not the rank and file of New York's Whiniest know it, they weren't created to 'Serve &amp; Protect' and modern police practices are designed as a powerful social control to keep the established Plutocratic Hierarchy in place.<br /><br />And the Working Classes in their place.<br /><br /><span style="text-align: center;">Review the iconic image from Occupy UC Davis, where non-violent "criminals" were treated savagely but, Wall Street criminals guilty of far worse offenses not only avoided this treatment but arrest and prosecution almost entirely,</span><br /><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/203/420/UCDavis_pepperspray.jpg?1321852699" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/203/420/UCDavis_pepperspray.jpg?1321852699" height="200" width="300" /></a></div>Now, recall the overall crackdown on Occupy Wall Street and other sister demonstrators by Police Departments Nationwide was cheered and supported by 100% of conservatives. While later, 100% of conservatives supported recalcitrant lawbreaker Cliven Bundy and his army of insurrectionists with their plans to murder Law Enforcement Officers and use women and children as human shields, while Bundy and his other Cattle Barons annex US land for their profit.<br /><br /></div>In Joseph Wambaugh's first novel, <i>The New Centurions</i>, we follow 3 titular centurions conducting police work in the Civil Rights era in Los Angeles. As demonstrated by several chapters in Wambaugh's novel, the cops spend most of their time gleefully busting homosexuals and prostitutes as part of Vice Squads.<br /><br />Wambaugh's later works especially&nbsp;<i>The Blue Knight </i>better captured&nbsp;the ennui of Police Officers but, <i>Centurions </i>while honestly reflecting the day-to-day grind of police work, is rife with Reactionary themes, including the "liberal" Officer getting shot mid-way through the book and being killed in the Watts Riots because he's too soft and Wambaugh's most racist 'I don't see black or white just assholes' speech presented by a "black" Officer.<br /><br />But, another theme running throughout <i>Centurions, </i>is the belief in an early form of "Broken Windows",<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"</i>But today the 'dont's' are dying or being murdered in the name of freedom and we policemen can't save them. Once the people become accustomed to the death of a 'don't', well then, the other 'dont's' die much easier. Usually all the vice laws die first because people are generally vice-ridden anyway. Then the ordinary misdemeanors and some felonies become unenforceable until freedom prevails." - <i>The New Centurions</i>, pg. 86</blockquote>The problem is once theories like, Broken Windows, Stop &amp; Frisk, and the War on Drugs become conventional wisdom, accepted and entrenched in organizations as Reactionary as Police Departments they are difficult to dislodge.<br /><br />The post Mike Brown death response by the Ferguson Police was the at least as egregious as Brown's killing. Faced with discontent over the situation the response was the force. It was a typical Police response, when faced with push back and perceived challenges to authority.<br /><br />But, once you have gone with the full forceful response there are no other options than to further ratchet up force until the situation spirals out of your control.<br /><br />But, well before the August 2014 killing of Mike Brown, <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/08/25/343143937/in-ferguson-court-fines-and-fees-fuel-anger" target="_blank">the people of Ferguson have complained</a> that like many poor neighborhoods they are faced with constant harassment and mistreatment by the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/09/03/how-st-louis-county-missouri-profits-from-poverty/" target="_blank">Police as&nbsp;small infractions and&nbsp;petty violations are punished by fines, fees and costs</a>.<br /><br />And, once again, therein lies the real reason Police Departments were created for in the first place; Control.<br /><br />Under the guise of Law &amp; Order,&nbsp;poor and working class people are exposed to&nbsp;constant harassment, "Collars for Dollars", and criminalization for infractions which really aren't crimes. Because it controls them.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-22479589168488620952015-01-24T01:52:00.003-06:002015-01-24T09:32:23.005-06:00Pat Tillman was a Hero. Chris Kyle was a Butcher. (Updated with Sarah Palin's threat on Michael Moore's life)Beyond the gross fetishization of <i>every</i>&nbsp;Servicemember being a Hero and <i>every</i>&nbsp;Servicemember having fought for our Freedoms the truth is that very little the US Military has done during the last 15 years has made America any safer, made Americans freer, or turned the world into a better place.<br /><br /><a href="http://disaffectedanditfeelssogood.blogspot.com/2014/06/iraq-w-built-this-george-w-bush-is.html" target="_blank">The Iraq War was a Monumental Failure,</a> which has utterly destablized the region, stolen Trillions of dollars from the US Taxpayer, killed a million Iraqis, wounded a hundred thousand Americans, split the Nation asunder, and will be a black spot against the US for decades <i>if</i> not a century.<br /><br />In the early stages of Iraq, after disgusting puke George W(orst President Ever) Bush declared the Iraq War over and was telling the Insurgency to bring it on, the Republican Warmongers and their feckless conservative lick-spittles needed a Hero to take heat off; Enter Pat Tillman.<br /><br />Tillman, as most people know gave up a lucarative NFL career to enlist and served as an Army Ranger before being killed in a friendly fire incident in 2004.<br /><br />After attempts by the Bush Department of Defense to cover up the facts surrounding Tillman's true cause of death and their use of Tillman's corpse to silence anti-war critics, we learned of Pat Tillman's atheism, utter disdain for George Bush, his disgust at the Iraq War, probable support of John Kerry for President and his admiration of Noam Chomsky.<br /><br />Of course, Tillman was no longer a hero to conservatives. Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter, who had previously gushed and fawned over him, describing Tillman as "virtuous, masculine and pure as only the American Male can be" couldn't believe the man they had lionized would be against the War and read approvingly of works written by leftists.<br /><br />So, conservatives abandoned the tributes to a fallen Soldier and buried his Hero Legacy with him.<br /><br />Now, Chris Kyle is different. He massages every sick and twisted conservative pleasure center with his Book of Tall Tales. Blam! He killed so many Iraqis he became the <i>Shaitan</i> of Ar Ramadi... Blam! He gunned down looters in New Orleans during the Post-Katrina debacle... Blam! He punched out Jessie Ventura for bad-mouthing the US of A and President "I'm the Decider" Bush...<br /><br />Chris Kyle is a hero to conservatives because he killed lots of Iraqis, whom Kyle called "savages". <i>The same Savage Iraqis</i>&nbsp;who attacked Us on 9/11! In reality, did <i>anything </i>Chris&nbsp;Kyle do in Iraq help the Iraqi people or the United States? Nope.<br /><br />By all accounts he loved killing and thought every problem could be solved by guns. Thus, he lived by the sword and died by the sword... And the world is better off without him.<br /><br /><u>Update:</u><br />Remember when Free Speech Rights were the most important thing in the Universe? Ha, that was <i>sooooo</i>&nbsp;2 weeks ago.<br /><br />To Conservatives, "Free Speech" means the freedom for them to insult islam and threaten liberals. Semi-literate, mentally disabled right-wing darling Sarah Palin, not content with getting Congresswoman Gabby Giffords shot (in an attack which killed 6 and wounded 18 people) now is telling her cultists to 'set their sights' on Michael Moore.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/PalinSign1-585x438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/PalinSign1-585x438.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Palin, along with MoH recipient Dakota Meyer. What's especially disgusting is the despicable Bush Regime used the natural sense of military brotherhood and camaraderie to stifle anti-war dissent.</div>Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-55842210186596449272015-01-22T04:03:00.001-06:002015-01-22T21:51:07.825-06:00The NRA bears much Responsibility for the recent Police ShootingsDashcam footage from New Jersey of another Police Shooting of a suspect exiting his vehicle unarmed is now making the rounds. Last December 30th, Jerame Reid was a passenger in a vehicle. During a traffic stop by Bridgeton Officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley, a gun was apparently located in the passenger side glove box by Officer Days who displayed good instincts, was alert and observent.<br /><br />But then entering rapidly goes to shit. The next and final minute of Reid's life were a mix of rapid and contradictory commands leading him to exit the vehicle hands raised and&nbsp;<i>after </i>the gun had been confiscated by Officer Days.&nbsp;<a href="http://which%20point%20the%20two%20officers%2C%20shot%20and%20killed%20him/" target="_blank">At which point the two Officers shot and killed him</a>.<br /><br />But, I'm not here to exercrate the Officers, but to point out why it is seemingly unarmed and cooperating men are getting gunned down.<br /><br />While it's unequivocally true the Modern Police Department was created as a Social Control of the Working Class, immigrants and freed Slaves, the recent spate of shootings stems from the Reactionary Wayne LaPierre lead-NRA and their 35 year push to get guns everywhere and to allow gun violence to go unrestricted.<br /><br />The Nation is awash in Guns. 300 million or more and those guns have a habit of "walking away" and ending up in the hands of criminals quite easily. Gun Nuts and their groups use every mass shooting to further weaken the anemic gun control laws left. And the Powerful Unrestricted Gun Violence Lobby has won 2 very important SCOTUS decisions as gotten hundreds of local ordinances eliminated.<br /><br />Now that Illinois has passed Concealed Carry, every state in the Union has some version of CC and President Obama even loosened gun control regulations on Federal Parks and Lands.<br /><br />Thus, Police Officers face the real threat that everyone they come in contact with and every vehicle they stop has a gun. Officers faced with this knowledge and sporting the maxim <i>Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6, </i>have ended up shooting many seemingly cooperative suspects.<br /><ul><li>South Carolina Trooper shoots black man reaching for wallet.</li><li><a href="http://www.wbtw.com/story/24833263/70-year-old-man-reaching-for-cane-is-shot-during-sc-traffic-stop" target="_blank">South Carolina Trooper shoots 70 year old reaching for cane.</a></li><li>38 year old homeless camper sit with ar15s, beanbags and but by a K9.</li><li><a href="http://mashable.com/2015/01/12/billings-police-officer-crying/" target="_blank">A Billing Montana Police Officer wept </a>after killing an unarmed man in April 2014.</li></ul>But, those shootings have a counterpoint because Police Officers are receiving training and reviewing these incidents,<br /><ul><li>Oregon State Trooper is confronted and has a shoot-out with a former Army National Guardsman during traffic stop.</li><li>An Arlington Heights Officer shot by suspect during Domestic Violence call.</li><li>Cliven Bundy participants and Conservative Terrorists Jerad and Amanda Miller murder 2 Officers and another man during their Right-Wing Revolution.</li><li>And recently <a href="http://largegreenbird.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-truth-about-police-violence.html" target="_blank">over at Green Eagle comes the story </a>of a black Oklahoma Police Chief shot 4 times by a right-wing White Supremacist, who was wanted in connection to calling in false bomb threat reports. This last incident along with the Millers continues to show that Right-Wing Violence including murder and attempted murder of Police Officers is coddled and encouraged in the United States.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;">Because the iconic image from the ClivenBundyInsurrection is the NRA man ready to shoot LEOs:<a href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/newsroom/img/mt/2014/04/RTR3L0EB/lead.jpg?n414z8" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/newsroom/img/mt/2014/04/RTR3L0EB/lead.jpg?n414z8" height="213" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><u>Update</u>:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">The conservative commenters on the youtube videos for this incident call this a "good shoot". I wonder what training, what Use of Force, what readings/discussion of the 4th Amendment, what personal experience at drawing down on someone or shooting/being shot at they can reference in order to support their viewpoint and then I remember that the man killed was Black and it's&nbsp;<i>ipso facto</i>&nbsp;always a good shoot to conservatives when a Black man is shot.</span></div></div>Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-42434321873663935572015-01-20T15:25:00.000-06:002015-01-22T13:47:50.631-06:00How Capitalism drives Crime but only dark skinned criminals concern ConservativesI've left a bigoted rambling comment up on my post about John Wrana's death and the trial of Officer Craig Taylor because it is illustrative of a terrible blight on this nation, How Conservative Bigotry blinds them and thus they focus on only dark-skinned criminals.<br /><br />Here is the comment from <b>Rational Nauseous</b>,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Marty King was a communist who cheated on his wife frequently. He was a tremendous advocate for Negro self-sufficiency and a color blind society. So we honor his memory by not working, not going to school etc. But to be honest, I think if Marty was still alive he would commit suicide, if he saw what direction the black community has taken. Lets see all the accomplishment that the blacks have made since Marty King’s days, Black folks has denigrated so very badly, with their stupid music, stupid cloths, pants sagging down and their ass cracks showing, their willing to stand out in the cold at shoe stores for days and nights for a pair of stupid sneakers from a basketball player, Michael Jordan endorsed and made a fortune from, their teenage pregnancies and parent homes, multiple fathers to litters of children drawing welfare checks and food stamps, drinking Booze in the streets and drunk driving, pointless killings, looting and burning down homes and store and calling it “protesting”</blockquote>When it comes to MLKJr, Right-Wingers are flummoxed. They fervently tried to destroy his image, beliefs and works before and after murdering his body, but have been absolutely unsuccessful so conservatives have tried to co-opt Doctor King as one of them while still believing the John Bircher propaganda.<br /><br />But, let's focus on the henious lies and ignorant bigotry throughout conservative thinking illustrated by Rational Nauseous; who ascribes crime, food stamps, absentee fathers and teenage pregnancies as something inherent in the black community.<br /><br />These issues are endemic in all races and cultures. In fact, the overwhelming majority who use food stamps, SSDI and other government assistance programs are "white" people. Currently, white conservatives have convinced themselves they "earned" their medicare, social security benefits and blithely ignore crime and the fraying of society amongst "whites".<br /><br />As Martin Luther King Jr, observed Rich White Men have always been able to convince poor whites that while they and their children may be sickly, uneducated and broken by poverty at least they're not black.<br /><br />But, what every Police Officer knows is that poverty and lack of economic opportunities drives much* criminal activity.<br /><br />We are a full generation into the Ronald Reagan destruction of the American Dream and elimination of the Middle Class. Crimes and abberant behavior once ascribed solely to black and brown communities is becoming common-place amongst whites. Once Republicans destroyed the manufacturing base, transformed the Nation into a service-based economy and eliminated laws and regulations on the Financial Industry they made the bottom quarter of Americans into extraneous persons about whom they care not one jot or tittle.<br /><br />The Housing Crash and Republican Recession of 2007 showed, Capitalism cares nothing for your belief system and once Glorious Capitalism deems you expendable then you <i>are</i> expendable. This is something African-American, Asian, and Hispanic communities have known for generations.<br /><br />In some ways the Creation of the Tea Party <i>was</i>&nbsp;a response to Capitalism's evil treatment of the white American Working Class until the Koch Brothers and their Republican Operatives quickly usurped authority and transformed Tea Baggers into a lobbying arm for Plutocratic interests, while ensuring the anger of the white community was transfered from the Destructive nature of Capitalism and Corporate Criminality towards Government and the Social Safety Net.<br /><br />David Simon, creator of <i>The Wire, Treme</i> and former reporter the Baltimore Sun&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/25/the-wire-creator-us-drug-laws" target="_blank">correctly observed once economic opportunities were taken away </a>so-called drug crime became the only option in minority communities,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"We do not need 10-12% of our population; they've been abandoned. They don't have barbed wire around them, but they might as well." As a result, "drugs are the only industry left in places such as Baltimore and east St Louis" – an industry that employs "children, old people, people who've been shooting drugs for 20 years, it doesn't matter. It's the only factory that's still open. The doors are open. Capitalism has tried to jail its way out of the problem, the prison industry has been given over to capitalism. If we need to get rid of these people, we might as well make some money out of getting rid of them."</blockquote><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://embed.theguardian.com/embed/video/media/video/2013/may/25/wire-david-simon-war-drugs-video-interview" width="560"></iframe></div>It is not an inherent criminal nature in black and brown communities it's a systematic denial of the American Dream which fueled much of the crime in those communities.<br /><br />Now we see Capitalism has throw aside the poor white communities and undermined the Middle Class Dream of White America.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-46389198549765678412015-01-15T10:59:00.002-06:002015-01-15T22:32:25.616-06:00John Wrana's death and Police Use of ForcePark Forest Police Officer Craig Taylor is on trial for killing 95 year WWII Veteran John Wrana during a July 2013 incident at the elderly man's retirement home.<br /><br />During the incident, Taylor used&nbsp;<i>Less than Lethal</i>&nbsp;shotgun beanbag rounds when Wrana brandished a knife. Taylor fired 5 rounds and the autospy reported two rounds struck Wrana in the abdomen and one in the chest. Wrana died five hours later of internal bleeding from the blunt force trauma.<br /><br />Now, Taylor wasn't the only Officer present, four other Park Forest officers responded as well. During testimony, two of the others stated they were in fear of their lives during the incident, with the on scene Surpervisor testifying, "I thought deadly force was authorized and we were using reasonable force under the circumstances."<br /><br />However, a use of force expert and former Secret Service surpervisor Francis Murphy, referred to the 5 officers' tactics as "officer-created jeopardy", criticized their decision making, and offered up several alternatives they should have used,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"They didn't start by giving it a cooling-off time. They kept going into his room and agitating him."</blockquote>Murphy did testify trying to shield rush Wrana or using pepper-spray could have jeopadized the officers or caused serious injuries to Wrana as well.<br /><br />Do the facts that Wrana was a white 95 year old WWII veteran and Taylor is an African-American have anything to do with the decision to prosecute? I don't know.<br /><br />I do know something about this type of incident, having responded to several near exact situations. In a recent one, I responded to a call out to an Hospice/Elder Care building.<br /><br />At 2 in the morning an elderly, confused, angry and frightened man had somehow gotten an old claw hammer (not an Estwing) which he had hit a nurse in the shoulder and was outisde his room pounding on doors and furniture.<br /><br />My on duty sergeant and another officer showed up. While my Sergeant chatted up the old man I moved to his side and out of his perherial vision. Several pieces of furniture had been moved around the man by members of the staff. He absent-mindedly brandished the hammer and at one point raised it up over his right shoulder. At which point I grabbed the hammer and yanked it from his grasp.<br /><br />The man turned at me and demanded I return his hammer calling me a "little sneak thief". While the gentleman refused to go to his room, he sat down in a nearby chair and quickly fell asleep.<br /><br />So, what should be lesson and take away from this and other Use of Force incidents?<br /><br />I'm not sure. What I do know is I and other Police Officers are being counted upon more and more often to respond to incidents which really require trained medical personnel or Social Workers. But, because right-wingers have thrown in with the Guard Dogs of the Plutocracy, funding for those people and programs has been slashed mercilessly.<br /><br />And now Republicans are coming to steal Social Security and working on rolling back even the modest gains from Obamacare.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-36773619508667839972015-01-13T13:13:00.001-06:002015-01-13T15:35:24.227-06:00Bonjour, Paris! Conservatives sommes Merde-flinging surrender monkeysRidiculous Right-Wingers all took to their laptops and iPhones to tweet, blog, facebook and post their "embarassment" that President Barack Obama did not attend the Paris World Leaders Rally in face of the Charlie Hebdo/Jewish Deli terrorist attacks. That is from the comfort of their plush, warm living rooms here Stateside.<br /><br />Thus, continues the never-ending War Conservatives engage upon where they throw shit on everything in the hopes that some of their shit will stick and they can exploit the stink. The Right-Wing Blame Barack Campaign is a well-worn, tried and true method for causing fatigue in the American populace. In the 2014 elections, the<b> ISIS Panic</b> and <b>EBOLA Fear</b>&nbsp;won the Republicans the Senate, so the manufactured freak-outs make sense politically.<br /><br />Even if they are <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-republicans-inconsistent-attacks-on-obamas-paris-response/2015/01/12/bd223d0a-9aa8-11e4-96cc-e858eba91ced_story.html" target="_blank">not internally consistent with other Right-Wing rhetoric</a>. In 2009, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, every conservative blogger and all their right-wing drones derided President Obama for <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2009/05/07/dijon-derangement-syndrome-conservative-media-a/149946" target="_blank">ordering Dijon-Mustard on his Hamburger</a>!<br /><br />Rawr! Dijon Mustard was renamed by Republicans under the Awesome W Presidency as <b>FREEDOM MUSTARD</b> to go-along with your <b>FREEDOM FRIES</b>! Only God-Reagan approved HFCS Ketchup is allowed on American Burgers! Freedom!<br /><br />And merely 10 years ago, every single conservative was in lock-step with President Bush and his Faux News enbablers denouncing Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry for being too French-looking and speaking&nbsp;<i>En Francais.</i><br /><br />Time and time and time again, conservatives have tried to manufacture controversy surrounding the Obama Presidency, it hasn't worked because besides being as cool as the other side of the pillow President Obama and his cabinet has been moral and just and not beset with the War Crimes and other misdemeanors of the W(orst President in History) and his staff of villains.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-52634529255151795112015-01-02T10:57:00.001-06:002015-01-03T09:41:31.455-06:00Conservatives plan to use the NYPD assassinations as a pretext to murder Liberals and overthrow the Government<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Right-Wing Violence is coddled and encouraged in America. There is a real danger of the American Right using the murders of NYPD Officers Liu and Ramos to kill minorities and leftists and then Overthrow the US Government. At least, that's the dream of Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists.</span><br /><br />Right-Wingers all have the same delusion. They think they are&nbsp;<b>The Thin White Line o' Heroes.</b><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"The next time there’s a die-in, make sure they’re dead. The next time they block the road, run their asses over,"&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/gun-owners-of-america-chief-blames-small-group-of-black-leftists-for-racism-in-america/" target="_blank">Stan Solomon talking to Larry Pratt</a>, Head of the Gunowners of America, on reacting to protests. Note the demonstrators Solomon is itching to murder are not looters but, non-violent demonstrators.</blockquote><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">These White-Wing Hateriots do have several things in common; they loathe Democracy and the Democratic Republic for which We Stand.</span>&nbsp;Conservatism is Terrorism.<br /><br />Fortunately, in reality, while some of the craftier conservatives will use this to fund raise and fleece more right-wingers, additional Right-Wing Murder Sprees will not happen. The Oathbreakers will have a fundraising drive, <a href="http://theerant.yuku.com/reply/765091/Re-FU-Deblasio-shirts-SITE-IS-LIVE" target="_blank">FU de Blasio T-Shirts (made in China) will be sold</a>, more parcels of land in the Galtian Paradise will be purchased, Alex Jones Infowars will increase his viewership, more Liberal Hunting Permits will be issued, and this incident will go down as another of the 968 impeachable offenses committed by Barack HUSSEIN Obama.<br /><br />However, this doesn't diminish the aching desire Conservatives have to start murdering Liberals. They are waiting for a signal, for their imagined <i>Casus Belli.</i><br /><br />Over at <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/it-looks-as-though-big-bad-gummint-has.html" target="_blank">Hullabaloo the blog of Digby</a>, I read the latest Call to Arms from Confederate Yankee Bob Owens. His sthick has been the same for 6 years. The stay-at-home schocastic terrorist throwing his toxic emissions into the seething cauldron of right-wing rage in the hopes some "Lone Wolf" will go out and murder a Liberal,<br /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: 'PT Sans'; font-size: 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"></span></span></span> <br /><blockquote style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>It’s Time To Play Cowboys and Communists</b><br /><br />Posted by Bob Owens on December 29, 2014 at 1:03 pm<br /><br />If, my friends, you would like to preserve and restore liberty you must decide, today, what you will tolerate.<br /><br />You must determine how much more you are going to tolerate as they attempt to destroy this nation from the inside.<br /><br />You must determine what you are willing to sacrifice in order for your children and grandchildren to remain free.<br /><br />I ask you to stand your ground, my proud fellow American citizens. Keep your weapons oiled, your bores bright, and your magazines loaded. Pledge to protect those who protect us.<br /><br />We do not want war, but we will not surrender our liberty to rabble who crave the chains of tyranny, or who dream of lording over free men.<br /><br />Will you choose to be Sons of Liberty, or sons of Obama?</blockquote><div>Laughably earlier in his column Bob Owens wrote;<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">This string of attempted, escalating, (and sometimes regrettably successful) cop killings is a part of a low-intensity civil war on the very fabric of our society.</blockquote></div><div>Richard Poplawski, Jerad and Amanda Miller, Andrew Joseph Stack, James W. Von Brunn*, Joseph T. Kane, Dennis Marx*, <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/sovereign-citizens-teen-son-kills-two-alaska-state-troopers-reality-tv-stars-in-sofa-dispute/" target="_blank">Nathanial Kangas</a> have all attacked or killed Law Enforcement Officials yet evoked no response and weren't a <i>Cause Célèbre</i>&nbsp;for Conservatives.<br /><br /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Right-wingers only support Police Officers and the Rule of Law when those LEOs and that Rule is being used to oppress Minorities, Leftist Protests, and Unions.</span><br /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><u>Related:</u></span><br /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Right-Wingers really are itching for any reason they can grasp to begin the slaughter of Liberals. Criticism of Chris Kyle and <i>American Sniper</i>&nbsp;<a href="https://storify.com/RaniaKhalek/tcotsniper" target="_blank">has brought out the typical Conservative Death Threats towards anyone</a> who dares point out that Kyle didn't win the war, murdered a bunch of people we shouldn't have been killing and died because he was a gun humping moron.&nbsp;When Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton win the Presidency in 2016 I'm certain a Right-Wing Insurrection and mass murder spree of Liberals, Democrats, Progressives will begin.</span></div>Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-61200503860902452342014-12-31T13:10:00.000-06:002015-01-11T07:30:01.375-06:00New York's Finest, The Thin (Skinned) Blue Line<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Now choke yourself. Goddamn it, with MY hand, numb-nuts! Don't pull my fucking hand over there! I said choke yourself; now lean forward and choke yourself!</i> - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LhntG_8PUs" target="_blank">Marine Corps legend R. Lee Emery and Vincent D'Onofiro</a> famous Boot Camp introduction scene in <i>Full Metal Jacket</i> (1987)</blockquote>As New York's Whiniest continue their spectacle of entitlement and petulance, the New York Post is reporting Police Union Leaders have convinced the Thin Skinned Blue Line to engage in a work slow down.&nbsp;<a href="http://nypost.com/2014/12/29/arrests-plummet-following-execution-of-two-cops/" target="_blank">According to the Post</a>,<br /><div><blockquote class="tr_bq">overall arrests down 66 percent for the week starting Dec. 22 compared with the same period in 2013, stats show.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Citations for traffic violations fell by 94 percent, from 10,069 to 587, during that time frame.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Summonses for low-level offenses like public drinking and urination also plunged 94 percent — from 4,831 to 300.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Even parking violations are way down, dropping by 92 percent, from 14,699 to 1,241.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Drug arrests by cops assigned to the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau — which are part of the overall number — dropped by 84 percent, from 382 to 63. </blockquote></div><div>From invoking the Stab-in-the-Back rhetoric to Disrespectful protesting at Funeral of a fellow Officer, the New York Police Department has put a permanent blemish on their Shields, which will take years of hard work to erase.<br /><br />It's hard to see whom exactly the NYPD think they hurting with this work stoppage? The reaction to the drop in citations and the declaration Officers are making arrests "only when they have to" has been 'Super! keep up the great work'.<br /><br />Now, perhaps the Officers are trying to bring Mayor de Blasio to heel by cutting off funding for the City Budget, but such a tacit admission that&nbsp;Police Departments, including the Nation's Largest, have been filling City Budget Holes on the backs of the Working Class probably isn't the message the NYPD wants to be sending.<br /><br />Of course, the NYPD, as a monolithic organization, probably doesn't care what anyone thinks. But, the interesting phenomenon has been the sudden tack by the American Right back towards unwavering support for "Law &amp; Order".&nbsp;Meanwhile, Right-Wing violence, up to and including murder of Police Officers, is coddled and encouraged in America.<br /><br />Conservatives, of course, don't give a shit about individual Cops but, what they do love is exerting Power and Authority, especially the type traditionally enforced by Police Departments over their enemies.<br /><br />Police Departments have always been the guardians of the 1%, the enforcers of the plutocracy, with specific goals of keeping the Working Class in line and incarcerating or killing minorities.<br /><br />Law books are replete with "crimes" designed to nickel and dime the Poor and Working Class to make them pay for their own incarceration, with "fines, fees and costs".<br /><br />Besides the constant threat of arrest and imprisonment for minor offenses, the Working Class faces the full power of the American Justice System while the 1% are free to swindle Billions and even escape unscathed because of <a href="http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2014/08/fred-couch-father-of-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-arrested-for-impersonating-north-richland-hills-police-officer.html/" target="_blank">their Affluenza</a>.</div>Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-4355741113893287552014-12-24T15:50:00.000-06:002014-12-27T08:39:52.378-06:00Conservatives don't give a shit about CopsConservatives don't care about Law Enforcement Officers. All conservatives care about is using each and every situation to advance their fascist agenda and take over of the United States.<br /><br />Do you recall all the right-wing outrage over the murder of 3 Pittsburgh Police Officers by a Staunch Conservative angered over the Coming Obama Gun Ban? Or the 2 Alaska State Troopers killed by a Right-Wing Soverign Citizens son? Or the ultra-conservative war game playing nutjob who killed a Pennsylvannia State Trooper? Or the 2 Arkansas Cops killed by Soverign Citizen? Or the IRS agent killed by the Grover Norquist Anti-Tax Crusader who flew a plane into the Texas IRS building?<br /><br />Of course, you don't because the Conservative Media squealed like petulant children and proclaimed each of these incidents was actually President Obama's fault.<br /><br />Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism is coddled and encouraged in the United States. The Media is scared to correctly report that Conservatives are one of the most dangerous threats facing America today.<br /><br />In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security correctly pointed out that President Barack Obama's election would lead to a rise of Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists. This is exactly what happened. All manner of conservative terrorist groups arose, the&nbsp;<strike>Oathkeepers,</strike>&nbsp;UnConstitutional Sherrif's of America, the III Percenters, for instance. All these groups have threatened to murder any Government Offical or Police Officer who dares to implement laws, which <i>they</i> deem Unconstitutional.<br /><br />The indignant screams from the Conservative media caused the DHS to retract their correct conclusions. And sadly, once the Obama Adminstration gave into their tantrums, it only emboldened Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists to conduct their campaign to undermine and subvert the Nation.<br /><br />But, <a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_12/flame_throwers_and_fire_fighte053409.php#disqus_thread" target="_blank">Conservatives can never resist Waving the Bloody Shirt</a> and they have two more bodies to use as building blocks to construct their evil edice of a Neo-Feudalist Wage Slave State. Conservatives reveal in blood and use death to enforce their values of Oppression, Intolerance and Slavish Obediance to the Rich.<br /><br />So, now in-line with their values, Conservatives have finally found a Union Boss with whom they gleefully agree, in Patrick Lynch of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.<br /><br /><a href="http://gawker.com/nypd-union-president-patrick-lynch-is-completely-nuts-1674178970" target="_blank">Lynch's inflammatory rhetoric of blaming Mayor Bill De Blasio</a> has been <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/who-do-you-work-for" target="_blank">discussed at length</a> at several excellent websites, but, having worked the job for almost a decade now, I can guarantee whenever you see a man with the combed back hair-do Lynch is sporting, that man is a slime bucket.<br /><br />Conservatives support Police Officers who kill Black Men because right-wingers believe every Black Man is a potential criminal. It's the same pathos which explains how Conservatives support the killing of innocent Muslims, including children, because they see every Muslim as a Potential Terrorist.<br /><br />Thus, the only Unions supported by Right-Wingers are Police Unions, as long as those Union Leaders vehemently defend Officers who kill Black Men and blame Liberals for America's woes.<br /><br />What has become clear is Police Officers are just another partisan issue for Conservatives. <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/12/15/gun_nuts_racial_duplicity_how_ferguson_and_garner_undermined_their_second_amendment_crusade/?source=newsletter" target="_blank">Any deviation from what they deem the proper use of the Law and Police </a>(i.e. Killing Black Men, incarcerating minorities, beating liberal protestors, and crushing Unions) is "Unconstitutional" to the American Right.<br /><br />And an entire media industry now exists to swaddle conservatives in a incestuous cocoon of comfortable lies and partisan bullshit as they shamelessly use the dead to advance their Agenda.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-7855853536795270352014-12-22T14:24:00.000-06:002014-12-23T15:36:21.607-06:00 Will Justice denied in Ferguson and Fox News Propaganda lead to an all-out shooting war with Police? (Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism Alert)The miscarriage of justice in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island could be the sparks of a new Police/Race War in the United States.<br /><br />The Two Brooklyn Police Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, who were murdered by a criminal who broadcast his intentions just after shooting his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore, have sparked a furious backlash amongst conservatives.<br /><br />The NYPD and Police Unions are apparently blaming NY Mayor Bill DeBlasio, Faux News and the right-wing on-line community also place the blame on Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama. The spectre of anti-police rhetoric by liberals is also listed as the cause of the officers deaths.<br /><br />It's never the wrong time to punch-a-hippie and Blame the Left for everything wrong in America.<br /><br />Of course, that there was actually rampant Prosecutorial Misconduct in Ferguson by Bob McCulloch and his assistants can never be the cause, because liberals.<br /><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;">All killings off citizens by their goverment i.e. the state need to be investigated thoroughly by an unbiased agency. That clearly did not happen in Ferguson, where the SA’s office provided instructions to the grand jurors in direct contradiction with USSC ruling in Tennesse v. Garner (1985) and allowed the fabrictions of a lying crazy woman,<b>&nbsp;Witness 40</b>, to be introduced as "evidence".</span><br /><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>But, don't expect Faux News to try and bring calm to this situation. This ghoulish race-baiting organization exists to gin up hatred and blame President Obama for everything. The more violence and discontent which embroils the Nation the better Faux News likes it.<br /><br /><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;">It’s especially ironic or cruelly hypocritical for Faux to blame Mayor De Blasio as one of their employees Mike Huckabee, <a href="http://godsownparty.com/blog/2009/11/god-guided-huckabee-to-free-cop-killer-over-a-thousand-others/" target="_blank">while as Arkansas Governor personally went out of his way to free a man Maurice Clemmons</a>, who murdered 4 Seattle Officers.</span><br /><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;">Of course, when the&nbsp;<a href="http://disaffectedanditfeelssogood.blogspot.com/2014/06/this-is-start-of-revolution-right-wing.html" target="_blank">right-wing domestic terrorists Jerad and Amanda Miller, who had demonstrable ties to the Cliven Bundy Insurrection</a>, murdered two Las Vegas Police Officers and another man, the Conservatives response was to blame President Obama.</span><br /><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;">But, focusing your energies on rebutting or calling out the right-wing lies is a sysphiean task, for conservatives are wimps who cry and squeal like 2 year old children denied candy when their lies aren't accepted.</span><br /><br /><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;">The real despicable truth of the deaths of the Police Officers is conservatives will shamelessly use their deaths to advance their disgusting agenda. Conservatism is an edifice built upon the corpses. A Flordia LEO, Charles Kondek was also murdered over the weekend but, don't expect Right-Wingers to know his name because their <i>I Blame Obama</i>&nbsp;Facebook feeds haven't cycled around to them yet.</span><br /><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;">Republicans use the dead to advance their agenda of Oppression, Intolerance and Adulation of the Rich and that is exactly what is happening now.</span><br /><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;"><u>Update:</u></span><br />The sudden swell of concern for Police Officers by conservatives is so much bullshit. Right-Wingers only support LEOs if those Officers are killing unarmed minorities or beating up and pepper spraying peaceful leftist protestors.<br /><br /><b>Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists have murdered Police Officers</b> at an alarming <i>and</i> increasing rate since President Barack Obama took office.<br /><br />Just don't expect the murderous attacks by Right-Wingers on Police Officers to ever be broadcast by Mainstream Conservative Media. The job of the Media is to always make Right-Wing arguments seem reasonable and to hide the flaws and evil intentions of Conservatives at every opportunity.<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white;"></span><br /><br />Conservatism <i>is</i> Terrorism.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-6853527565189480512014-12-18T20:11:00.001-06:002014-12-22T14:25:55.217-06:00President Obama and Pope Francis freed Cuba<blockquote class="tr_bq">"I've hurt you... And I wish to go on... hurting you." - RepubliKhan, Star Trek II</blockquote>Nothing angers American Conservatives more than success. Right-Wingers embrace failure and proclaim it to be a Wild Success. They <i>still</i> claim W's Iraq Fiasco was a stunning success.<br /><br />It's been 55 years since a Republican President did anything for the American people or championed any successful policies. That was President Dwight D. Eisenhower. But, it's also been 55 years since President Ike instituted sanctions and an economic embargo on Cuba. And they haven't worked.<br /><br />But, the reason Conservatives supported the failed sanctions against Cuba was because they enjoyed hurting Cubans. Recall that during the Bush/Cheney debacle in Iraq, Bill O'Reilly, Faux News and every warmongering chicken hawk conservative did not care, whatsoever how many, innocent Iraqis died because to conservatives every Iraqi was somewhat complicit with Saddam Hussein. So, it doesn't matter to conservatives how many innocent Cubans have been harmed by the failed Embargo.<br /><br />Of course, Cuban expats have reasons to hate Fidel Castro. Fidel's enemies were dealt with harshly. But, it's not as if Awesome America was not in league with brutal regimes while we condemned Castro. The Shah of Iran and Augusto Pinochet in Chile were at least as vicious and oppressive as Castro's Cuba, if not more than so.<br /><br />But, conservatives love harming people as a way of changing their minds and attitudes. This is why we find conservatives so supportive of torture. It doesn't matter if Torture elicited real intel it's the infliction of pain with which they agree.<br /><br />But, fortunately for the United States and President Obama we have friends around the world to offset the homegrown domestic traitors of the Republican Party. So, with the aid of the Canadian Government and Pope Francis' Vatican, President Obama has normalized US-Cuba Relations.<br /><br />Pope Francis, whom conservatives hate, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/17/us-cuba-diplomatic-relations-obama-raul-castro" target="_blank">was instrumental in brokering the deal</a>, having personally contacting both President Obama and President Raul Castro and (along with Canada) hosting critical meeting between the delegations.<br /><br />The opening up of Diplomatic Relations with Cuba is another brilliant Foreign Policy victory for President Obama, which is yet another reason conservatives are so apoplectic.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-88687132125356172122014-12-17T21:30:00.000-06:002014-12-17T23:26:21.225-06:00Republicans love when Veterans kill ThemselvesThe only Veteran a conservative loves is a Dead One. As we see by the actions of the Republican Party, Veterans are seen as a useless drain on the Plutocracy. Thus, once again as Conservatives disrespect Veterans and use the Awesome Power of Government to ensure Veterans receive sub-standard shoddy care when they come home in the hopes the Veteran commits suicide.<br /><br />Republican Senator Tom Coburn used a procedural maneuver to block a vote on the&nbsp;<i>Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act</i>&nbsp;because The Republican Party doesn't care one whit about Veterans. Republicans view Veterans in the same light as any other American; only useful if they advance the interests of the Plutocracy and the Conservative Principles of Oppression, Intolerance and Adulation of the Rich.<br /><br />By and large, since Vietnam <a href="http://disaffectedanditfeelssogood.blogspot.com/2010/02/cpac-chicken-hawks-united.html" target="_blank">Conservatives have studiously eschewed Military Service</a>. The soft, flabby Republican chickenhawks haved&nbsp;cited all sorts of other priorities for why they couldn't seem to serve, whether it was seeking 5 or 6 deferments, rotten luck because too many minorities had filled the spots, numerous cases of college football knee injuries and asthma, or they choose to "serve" in France instead of French-Indochina. And in at least one case, <a href="http://disaffectedanditfeelssogood.blogspot.com/2012/04/domestic-terrorist-chicken-hawk-coward.html" target="_blank">a Conservative Hero literally shit his pants</a> to avoid Vietnam so he could stay stateside instead and rape little girls.<br /><br />But, like White Privilege conservatives rest on unearned laurels and consider themselves Pro-Veteran because of jingoistic flag waving, Toby Keith and Bruce Greenwood "songs", and their unwavering support of the Military Industrial Complex.<br /><br />Republicans don't care about Veterans. Republicans love War. Republicans bask in the glow of waving the Bloody Shirt and talking about Freedom while seated on their expansive derrières from the comfort of their offices. Republicans love the Trillions of Dollars and thousands of lives they feed the rapacious War Machine. Republicans could not care less for individual military members and Veterans,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I didn’t use the word troops, I used the word military, and I think&nbsp;<i>[giggles]</i>&nbsp;they refer to the same thing." -&nbsp;<i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;">The Military-Industrial-Complex are people, my friend! </i><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;">- Mitt Romney</span></blockquote>In reality, Republicans&nbsp;are&nbsp;<i>grave robbers and fakes who have no right to speak for the dead.</i>&nbsp;-&nbsp;<u>Johnny Got His Gun</u>, Dalton Trumbo.Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-4796001697154238112014-12-16T14:24:00.003-06:002014-12-18T12:52:01.321-06:00The Pantheon of Second Amendment Heroes Grows (Whites Only)A <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30484534" target="_blank">White Mass Murderer has gunned down 6</a> in Pennsylvania, if he had been a black child with a toy pistol I'm sure the killing could have been stopped. But, because the killer was white, with the whiter-than-white name of Bradley William Stone, every deference was allowed in order that his precious Second Amendment Rights could never, ever be infringed.<br /><br />Thus Bradley William Stone will join the American Gun Nut Pantheon of Second Amendment Heroes.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Yet, Gun Humping Fanatics still claim the Second Amendment exists so they can defend themselves from criminals and Government Tyranny.</div><div><br /></div><div>And a segment of American Society is facing violence from the Government, thus the NRA would seem to be the prime organization to speak out and lead the fight against Government violence.</div><div><br /></div><div>Except the NRA and Gun Nuts have been conspicuously silent of late. It's because the NRA supports the violence directed at Minorities.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Second Amendment, Open Carry Laws, the NRA and Right-Wing groups like the Oathkeepers are not for minorities. They are protections to allow White Males and Females the freedom to gun down anyone who upsets them.</div><div><br /></div><div>An Open Carry Texas Lunatic used her Second Amendment Rights to murder her ex-husband and step-daughter, "Sometimes removing some people out of your life makes room for better people," <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/16/open-carry-militia-mom-murders-family.html" target="_blank">Open Carry Texas activist and Second Amendment Hero Veronica Dunnachie</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Austin Martin, an 18 year old student at Middlesex High School in Saluda, Virginia <a href="http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/PD-Va-Teen-Brought-Loaded-Guns-Knives-Ammunition-to-School-285907441.html#" target="_blank">had four loaded guns, several knives and more than 600 rounds of ammunition, in his car.</a> Martin was arrested because the commendable Middlesex Sheriff's Department did an exemplary job in stopping another Mass School Shooting.<br /><br />But, whatever intel the Sheriff's Deputies unearthed which aided them in stopping another White Mass Murderer, it's not unusual that a white 18 year old was treated differently than black 18 year old, Michael Brown.</div><div><br /></div><div>As the killing of Michael Brown by the unindicted murderer Darren Wilson, the Oathkeepers descended upon Ferguson. To stand with the Protestors? To voice their displeasure at the Violence of Police Officers? To defend Americans against the Paramilitary equipped shoot first, don't ask questions later Tactical Cops?</div><div><br /></div><div>Nope. To <b>MURDER</b> suspected looters. To kill minorities without trial, without evidence, for alleged property crimes. Thankfully, the St. Louis PD made them get out of their snipers posts on rooftops.<br /><br />But, the Oathkeepers like all Right-Wing Domestic Terrorist groups (e.g. Republicans in Congress, Faux News Viewers, anyone aligned with the Tea Party) wholeheartedly supports violence by the State when it is directed against Minorities.</div>Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-12166841936834417322014-12-15T14:20:00.002-06:002014-12-15T15:30:32.091-06:00Reclaiming Democratic Values, Championing the Working Class and Making America GreatMost liberals have convinced themselves the disastrous Right-Wing Tea Party policies and outright appeals to hatred and bigtory would send the American Voter fleeing away from the Republicans.<br /><br />Coupling this with the inevitable march of demographics, Liberals have been blissfully congratulating themselves on their Future Ascendancy and electoral dominance.<br /><br />But, the belief in <a href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/12/04/dem-civil-war-and-demographic-destiny-schumer-warren-obamacare/" target="_blank">Demographic Destiny</a> is a pipe dream. In much the same way Karl Rove spoke of Republican 100-year Reich, the Democratic Party has exuded smug Hubris that all they need do is exist in order to win Elections. As Tim Donovan at Suffolk Resolves wrote, There is no Demographic Destiny.<br /><br />So, despite Democratic Congressional Candidates winning more votes in 2012, in the aggregate, and the overwhelming support for Center-Left referendums in 2014, Liberals and Democrats are faced with Republican control of the US Senate and Republican dominance of the US House, State Legislatures and Governorships.<br /><br />But, besides their Hubris and the cashing-in on future voters the Democratic Party's downfall also stems from the free reign the gave to the Republicans to woo the working class white male.<br /><br />Now, why would the faux populism of the Republican Party appeal to working class white men? There never has been a more implacable foe of the Working Class than the Modern Republican Party.<br /><br />One of the key beliefs, which I have believed as well, was that Republicans had duped Working Class Whites into voting against their Own Economic Interests. But, is that true?&nbsp;But, is that how the Working Class White Man and Woman sees it? The answer is obviously not.<br /><div><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The perception by the White Working Class is they have been betrayed by the Democratic Party and the new Platform focus on gays, blacks and women.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">There is a lot of hindsight going. The PPACA (Obamacare) legislation was beneficial to white people (no caps on lifetime coverage, no pre-existing conditions, for instance) but, because the Conservative Internet Fart Bubble was allowed to frame the rhetoric as Death Panels and welfare for black people, Working Class whites don't see the Democratic Party as their Party or <i>even</i> their ally anymore.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">While the Republicans are committed to eliminating the Social Safety net and reducing the vast majority of Americans to Wage Slavery and Corporate Bondage, the white working class sees itself ostracized, shunned and abandoned by the Democratic Party.</div><br />It's not true but, as always <b>perception is truth</b>. So, while it's impossible to not see that Republicans are fanatically determined to destroy the Progressive Gains of the 20th century, Working Class people are focused on the now and the immediate future.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Long-term unemployment, millions of foreclosures, crippling personal debts and bankruptcies, the evaporation of savings and retirement accounts, and the crumbling of the country;s infrastructure are taking place as billions in taxpayer subsidies, obscene profits, bonuses and compensation are doled out to the corporate overlords. - Chris Hedges,&nbsp;<i>Death of the Liberal Class,&nbsp;</i>pg.181</blockquote>Since 2007, after George W(orst President Ever) Bush and the Republican Party crashed the economy the Democratic Party had an opportunity to pivot towards Economic Populism and reclaim the Will of the American People.<br /><br />But, the Democrats have been caught by the trap laid by the Plutocracy. Unless you are a Senator like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren it's hard to ignore that Money = Campaign = Victory.<br /><br />Occupy Wall Street offered the Democratic Party another chance to pick up the mantle of Champion of the Working Class. Which is why Plutocracy moved so quickly to undermine and destroy it.<br /><br />So, the Democrats did not offer any help to people struggling to pay bills, keep their house, take care of aging parents, raise kids, work longer hours and pick up extra jobs. And the White Working Class was forced to choose the least-worst candidate and they are increasingly choosing Republicans.<br /><br />There is a way to reclaim the white working class and win elections, while also inhabiting the moral high ground and providing the American Voter a government they know is looking out and seeking to protect them.<br /><br />Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren are the strong voices promoting Left-Wing Economic Populism. They are devoted to helping the Working Class, safeguarding the Social Safety Net and restoring the American Dream.<br /><br />Senator Warren has said she is not running for President but, Bernie Sanders has stated if enough Americans, if enough of the 99%, are willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with him he will take on the Koch Brothers and the 1%.<br /><br />Again<a href="http://suffolkresolves.com/2014/07/01/there-is-no-demographic-destiny-why-democrats-must-embrace-economic-populism/" target="_blank"> there is no Demographic Destiny.</a>&nbsp;If We, the People stand together we can reclaim the Democratic Values which made this Nation Great in the 20th Century.<br /><br />But, We must act because as Tim Donovan wrote at Suffolk Resolves,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Whichever party first grabs the mantle of economic populism will earn the support of a rising generation fed up with the politics of the moment, a generation wholly unsympathetic to the broken, ineffectual Reagan consensus that’s still so dominant today.</blockquote>Grung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.com2